“Hello, people of Lakevale. I am High Lord Ravas Velitarii, Master of the Blackscale Knights, and right now, in this city, I serve as the Voice of the Emperor himself,” Velitarii announced, his voice deep and imposing, carrying across the still and quiet crowd with ease. It was obvious that the man was used to commanding attention.

“Today, we have assembled to witness the execution of a traitor to the Empire, a survivor of the Galar Wyvern Hatchery to the North, whose family sought to defy the commandments of our Emperor and fight against the honorable Blackscale Order as we sought to end the wyvern menace within the Dagoldan Empire. This girl – Hera Galar – might be young, but do not let her age deceive you. She and her brother, Valen, are dangerous dissidents and criminals who must be brought to justice along with their surviving creatures. While we do not yet have the brother in custody, we are closing in on his whereabouts as we speak. Soon enough, he will join his sister in death. While we are not sure of his appearance, we have seen his sister and the others of his family. An image of his approximate likeness will be released across the city very soon, so that all loyal citizens of the Empire can help bring this remaining fugitive to justice should you see him. People like these rebels or the Emerald Reaver of the North will all meet the same fate. Death.” Ravas spoke with a gravitas that could not be ignored. It was like it even cut through the chatter of Valen's thoughts.

“As to what we have all come here to see today, we-“

“Let’s move,” a voice suddenly cut in, speaking low and at a whisper but coming right into Valen’s left ear. He nearly leapt out of his skin, whirling around to see who had spoken as his attention was ripped away from whatever the High Lord had been about to say.

He just managed to get a glimpse of Liza, a hand coming from under her cloak with white knuckles, her grasp on the hilt of her axe making the veins on her fist stand out tightly against her taut skin. Before he could begin to reply to what she had said, there was a sudden shout, followed by the sound of clanging steel and then suddenly the crowd was chaos.

Screams of confusion and fear carried from all over as people tried to run from whatever was happening without actually knowing what they were running from or what direction to run in. Liza shoved Valen forward, where he stumbled past the guards who had turned their attention in the direction of the commotion for just a moment.

That single moment was all it took, as the vicious woman rocketed into action. Valen tried to turn away before blood was spilled, but the sight of her axe catching one of the guards directly in the face was not something he would ever forget. He fought hard against the nausea that rose in his stomach, knowing that now was not the time to let the blood and violence get to him. He could get sick about it later. Right now, his only job was to get to his sister and free her before it was too late.

Valen reached the bottom of the stairs just after Arnold, who began to take the steps two at a time as he sped up to the main platform of the scaffold. The middle aged warrior ripped off his cloak to reveal a long, double-edged sword sheathed across his back that he quickly had free of its scabbard.

The young Galar did not know much about blades, but that was alright. It did not take much knowledge of weaponry to see how much larger Arnold’s sword was than any of the others he had seen, either amongst the Children or the Imperial soldiers they were now fighting. The man hefted it with two hands, and even through the light leather armor and loose clothing he wore beneath it he could see the man's muscles straining beneath the weight of the weapon.

Once more, Valen tried not to focus too much on the damage Arnold was able to unleash against their enemies. If he let himself see too much, sister in trouble or not, he would end up sick right then and there, a delay that no one could afford if they wanted this mission to be a success. So he kept his attention on his goal – his sister, arms and legs bound behind her, at almost the exact center of the platform.

Aevra, whining and wriggling like crazy, was only a few feet away from her, bound more fully than Hera with her wings tied at her sides and legs kept tight together. If she was up here, then Valen would have to free the little wyvern, instead of the twins. They would have their hands full with Raenelir, anyways, especially with the chaotic conflict unfolding all around.

Hera, though her mouth was gagged, saw Valen coming and immediately her eyes bulged with what seemed like a combination of relief, surprise and something else as well, though what he could not tell. She had two guards standing beside her, both wielding sword and shield, and both spinning to face him as he approached. Their faces were hidden behind the visors of their steel helms, making them seem inhuman. Valen fumbled for the blade at his hip, trying to get it loose so he attempt to fight them off, but then Liza was darting past him, running faster than he had ever seen anyone move. She approached the two soldiers with an eager grin on her face, her cloak abandoned now, and she held a second axe in her other hand.

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She jumped, bringing her leather-padded knees into the raised shield of one of the guards even as her axes came down, yanking the soldier’s protection out of the way. She dodged under and around as the other soldier brought his blade about in a quick arc to try and take her head, coming up off to the left without stopping and whirling back in with a spin, axeblades first.

One of the blades caught on her target’s helm, but the other slipped in at the opening between his helm and his chest, sending the man spinning to the ground followed by a trail of blood. The other man, Valen now forgotten, came after Liza hard and the two moved away, leaving Hera unguarded.

Ignoring the body lying on the ground beside them, Valen managed to get his short sword free and came to his sister’s side, using the blade to cut her bonds. He started with her hands, and once those were free she reached up to pull the gag from her mouth. Tears streaked down her face as she threw her arms around her brother’s neck, nearly causing him to jerk his sword, which would have cut Hera’s leg. Luckily, he managed to keep control enough to simply adjust his grip and finish cutting her legs free.

“Valen, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry, they found-“ she began to say, the words coming in a rush, but Valen put his sword down for a moment and placed his hands on either side of his sister’s head, forcing her to stop talking and look him in the eyes.

“It doesn’t matter, Hera. Right now, what’s important is that you’re free and that you’re safe. Are you hurt anywhere?” he asked, giving her a once over and finding, to his surprise, that despite the bindings and the gag she was not hurt that badly beyond a few bruises and light scrapes.

It was more than he could have hoped for.

“No, Val. It was scary, but for some reason the scariest one didn’t let anyone hurt me. He said I was too important to let anyone harm me yet,” Hera replied, her voice a bit calmer now as she spoke. Confusion rippled through Valen’s mind in waves at her words, but he did not have time to give much thought to them right now. They would be able to talk more about it later.

Their focus for now had to be escape.

He helped Hera to her feet, and then turned to look over at Aevra, still struggling against her bindings. The little wyvern was whining for help, eyes rolling back into her head in her panic. Arnold and another guard were facing off between them and Aevra, but their attention was fully on each other. That meant they should be able to get to the young wyvern without anyone getting in their way.

“Let’s get Aevra and get out of here,” Valen said. Hera, for her part, managed to find that same steely determination now that she had discovered after the attack on their home. She was moving before he was, sprinting around Arnold and the soldier to get to her little friend, with her brother quickly taking off after her after he scooped his sword back up off the ground.

By the time Valen got to the little wyvern’s side, Hera was already on her knees beside her, making soft noises with her mouth as she attempted to calm the panicked drake down.

“Hold her tight, Hera. I don’t want to hurt her on accident,” Valen said. Hera did not even respond, simply taking Aevra into her arms and getting a strong hold on her so that her brother could cut the bindings. He went to work, and thanks to his sister’s assistance it was not long before the wyvern was free and trying to clamber higher up onto Hera in an attempt to curl herself up around his sister’s neck.

“Alright. Now we just need Raenelir and we can get out of here,” Valen announced, saying the words mostly for his own sake more than anything else.

He did not want to imagine where Ravas or his more elite warriors were now. It would not be long before they joined the battle, which was the signal for the Children of the Sky to retreat. Valen hoped that Samuel and Simon were not facing too much trouble with freeing Raen, or things were not going to end well.

As if on cue, there was a roar and Raenelir was suddenly there, hovering over the platform. He was snarling at anyone and everyone, eyes scanning for the only people he cared to see. Once his eyes found Valen the wyvern descended, and it was at that moment that Valen realized he had two people in his massive clawed feet, curled around them so that they could not escape.

Valen was startled to realize it was Samuel and Simon. They had succeeded in freeing Raenelir, but it seemed that the Highborn still had not recognized them as friends. Both of them were somewhere between enraged and terrified at being in the powerful grasp of the wyvern.

“Raenelir! Let them go!” Valen called up, but Raen was in no mood to listen. He roared as one of the guards tried to rush over to them, sweeping his tail around to send the man flying off of the scaffold to crash into the stone of the plaza below. Quickly, though he was still careful not to harm them, the wyvern’s head came down, picking Hera and, consequently, Aevra up with his teeth before turning his long neck so that he could place them on his back.

“Raen, wait! You need to let them go fir- AGH.” Valen was cut off as the Highborn’s mouth closed around him as well, lifting him up and then placing him on his back just behind his sister.

“Raenelir, I said wait!” he cried, trying to get the Highborn’s attention. Then the shadow fell again, and Valen watched in absolute horror as the gigantic dragon patriarch’s jaws opened to let loose a massive stream of fire that swallowed up the people fighting below, with no discrimination towards who burned. Imperial soldiers, Children of the Sky and the few remaining Lakevale citizens in the plaza alike all fell, and a sickly scent wafted into the air along with the smoke that once again threatened to make Valen sick.

Then, striding calmly up onto the scaffold, came High Lord Velitarii, his eyes locked onto Valen and his family.

He knew then that they had no choice.

He leaned forward to speak to Raenelir, yelling as loud as he could.

“GO!”

The wyvern did not hesitate. He took off, the twins still in his grasp, taking to the sky as the center of Lakevale burned beneath them.